Homeowner protests cleaning drains for council

A MARYBOROUGH man has launched a kerbside protest after repeatedly having to clean out the gutters in front of his house to prevent flooding in minor rain.

Ann St resident Warren Foster said since the 2013 floods, he's had to regularly clean the gutters to avoid flooding his house out when there's more than 5mm of rain.

"I'm sick of doing it.," he said.

"Water has come into my house so many times when it rained and I'm sick of cleaning it.

"When the floods hit the area in 2013, Mayor Gerard O'Connell said he would clean out the gutters but after two years, I've heard nothing."

Mr Foster said he had made countless complaints over the years but had yet to receive help.

In a last-ditch bid to get the drain fixed, he created a large sign voicing his displeasure with the council.

"The council's engineers have come to the area and their standard answer is 'we will look into it'," he said.

Cr O'Connell said he had sympathy for the residents in the area but stressed he never made such a promise to Mr Foster.

"We did do some work in the major culvert and drainage area at the lower end of Ann St, clearing up debris," he said.

"It was largely emergent work around the 2013 flood event.

"Mr Foster's issue needs a far greater work as there is no curb or channelling around there and the concrete access around his property is above the table drain and that's creating some issue."

While Cr O'Connell made no promise, he said the council's infrastructure team was preparing cost estimates to do some work around the area.

"While that work may not completely eradicate any sign of flooding, those cost estimates will form part of our considerations of future budget which will be discussed in the next couple of months," he said.

"We are looking at any work that we can address in this situation and it will be considered by our infrastructure team."